5 Love Poems for Valentine's Day

Love Poems in the Hyakunin Isshu

    There are at least 43 poems in the Hyakunin Isshu that are classified as love poems. Often these poems are about lost love, unrequited love, or longing for a lover, but I wanted to focus on some of the more passionate and happier love poems for this Valentine's day. Here's a selection of some of my favorite love poems in the Hyakunin Isshu:

[67]はるの (Haruno)

Haru no yo no・Yume bakari naru・Tamakura ni

Kainaku tatan・Na koso oshi kere

~Suō no Naishi

If I lay my head

Upon his arm in the dark

Of a short spring night,

This innocent dream pillow

Will be the death of my good name.
~Lady Suō

A Tosa Mitsuoki illustration of 
Heian court women in the winter

    This one is not technically a love poem, but I like the cleverness that can almost be read as flirtatious. This poem was apparently written in response to a man, Fujiwara no Tadaie, who offered up his kimono sleeve as a pillow when the author, Lady Suō, said she was tired and had asked a servant for a pillow. Lady Suō replied through this poem that she regretfully could not accept the kind gesture, since such an act would spawn rumors of a love affair. At that time, lovers would share one another's kimono sleeves as pillows, or 手枕 (temakura, in this poem, tamakura).

    Rather than portraying romantic love, this poem points to how even small interactions between men and women at the time could become the basis for a love scandal. This well-crafted tanka also makes for a very classy rejection. 

[52]あけ (Ake) 

Akenureba・Kururu mono to wa・Shiri nagara

Nao urameshiki・Asaborake kana

~Fujiwara no Michinobu Ason

Though I know indeed

That the night will come again

After day has dawned,

Still, in truth, I hate the sight

Of the morning's coming light.
~Fujiwara no Michinobu

A depiction of the author and
his poem by the artist Agameishi

    In the Heian Period when this poem was written, unmarried lovers in the noble class could only meet at night. This poem was written by the author to send to his lover after he had to leave her in the early morning, just as dawn was starting to break. This poem conveys his strong desire to remain by his lover's side. 

    Though the author was a prodigious poet, he unfortunately died of an illness at the young age of 23. 

[13]つく(Tsuku)

Tsukuba ne no・Mine yori otsuru・Minano-gawa

Koi zo tsumorite・Fuchi to nari nuru

~Yōzei In

From Tsukuba's peak

Falling waters have become

Mina's still, full flow:

So my love has grown to be

Like the river's quiet deeps.

~Emperor Yōzei

Minano-gawa
（男女川-lit. Man and Woman River)

    I really like how this poem manages to be both understated and ambitious in its imagery. While the writing style in Japanese is fairly straightforward, it manages to convey the deep, passionate feelings of the author. Though the author's feelings started out small, they grew deeper and stronger, in much the same way that a grand river's sweeping current can start out as no more than a trickle of water on a mountaintop.

    The author of the poem was eventually wed to the recipient of this poem, Imperial Princess Yasuko, the daughter of the Emperor Kōkō, author of poem [15] Kimigatameha .

    I feel I should also add that the sweetness of this poem is not a very accurate reflection of the true nature of the poet, since there exist many historical accounts of his violent and deranged behavior, which would eventually lead to him being deposed as emperor.

[40]しの (Shino) 

Shinoburedo・Iro ni ide ni keri・Waga koi wa

Mono ya omou to・Hito no tou made

~Taira no Kanemori

Though I would hide it,

In my face it still appears —

My fond, secret love.

And now he questions me:

"Is something bothering you?"
~Taira no Kanemori

A screenshot from the anime
"Oran High School Host Club"

    If you've ever had a secret crush, you can probably relate to this poem. It really manages to capture how uncomfortable it can be to fall in love and be unable to hide those feelings. 

    In this poem Iro ni ide ni keri refers to the fact that the author can't hide his feelings well, because his face keeps turning red. Mono ya omou refers to "worries about love", and Hito no tou made means that it's gotten to the point where people are asking questions. Basically, it's so obvious that the author is troubled about love that people around him have noticed and started asking him questions about it.

   I enjoy the purity and innocence of the poem, and it also makes me feel like no matter what country or era you live in, people can relate to the feeling of falling hopelessly and awkwardly in love (and then maybe also getting teased about it by the people around you).

[17]ちは (Chiha)

Chihayaburu・Kamiyo mo kikazu・Tatsuta-gawa
Kara kurenai ni・Mizu kukuru to wa

~Ariwara no Narihira Ason

Even when the gods

Held sway in the ancient days,

I have never heard

That water gleamed with autumn red

As it does in Tatta's stream 
~Ariwara no Narihira

A depiction of the author and
his poem by the artist Agameishi

    Fans of the anime Chihayafuru may already know some of the story behind this one. Despite being ostensibly a poem about fall, it also allegedly carries the hidden, passionate feelings of the author for his secret lover. 

    This is a poem that Narihira wrote as "Screen Poem" for Fujiwara no Takaiko, a consort of Emperor Seiwa. Screen poems were written using the scene on a folding screen as the subject, then that poem could be used to decorate the screen. It is written in The Tale of Ise that Narihira and Takaiko were lovers, and it was even implied that Takaiko's child, who would later become Emperor Yōzei (author of the poem Tsuku, introduced above), was the product of their love affair. This historical depiction of the two's love affair is the basis of the interpretation that this poem is actually not only about crimson momiji leaves making a river run red, but also a hidden allusion to a deep, burning passion for the woman who would look at this poem on her screen. 

    Narihara is the protagonist in The Tale of Ise, and the story depicts him as having several high profile love affairs, including one with Yasuko, a high priestess of Ise shrine, and Ono no Komachi, author of poem [9] Hanano. It is hard to know how much of these legends are true, but they have promoted Narihara's image as a prolific lover. 

~❤️~

Thanks for reading! If you are looking for other love poems in the Hyakunin Isshu, click here to check out all the other "Love Poems" that I've posted! (Poems are still being updated, so check back later for more!)